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Texas Versus Sony BMG
John Stith
Staff Writer
2005-11-21
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
The independent nation of Texas declared war on Sony BMG Music Entertainment on this day, Monday, November 21, 2005. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot levied the charges in Travis County, charging Sony BMG knowingly unleashed spyware on the good citizens of Texas and in so doing violated the state's anti-spyware laws.
In a separate suit filed in Los Angeles on the same day, the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a class action against Sony BMG saying the recall measures by Sony BMG fall short of what the company needs to do to fix the problems cause to customers of the XCP and Sony BMG "has failed entirely to respond to concerns about MediaMax, another DRM package, which affects over 20 million CDs."
"Sony BMG is to be commended for its acknowledgment of the serious security problems caused by its XCP software, but it needs to go further to regain the public's trust," said Corynne McSherry, EFF Staff Attorney. "It is unconscionable for Sony BMG to refuse to respond to the privacy and other problems created by the over 20 million CDs containing the SunnComm software."
Texas is looking for civil penalties of $100,000 per violation of the Consumer Protection Against Computer Spyware Act, passed earlier this year. This marks Texas as the first state to go after Sony in this rootkit row.
"Sony has engaged in a technological version of cloak and dagger deceit against consumers by hiding secret files on their computers," said Attorney General Abbott.
"Consumers who purchased a Sony CD thought they were buying music. Instead, they received spyware that can damage a computer, subject it to viruses and expose the consumer to possible identity crime."
The AG's office also charged that a phantom file is put in to hide XCP files from the user and the appropriate online security, such as it is. They also cited recent news accounts of viruses designed to exploit the phantom file included in the Sony software.
"Music fans shouldn't have to install potentially dangerous, privacy intrusive software on their computers just to listen to the music they've legitimately purchased," said EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "Regular CDs have a proven track record -- no one has been exposed to viruses or spyware by playing a regular audio CD on a computer. Why should legitimate customers be guinea pigs for Sony BMG's experiments?"
"Consumers have a right to listen to the music they have purchased in private, without record companies spying on their listening habits with surreptitiously-installed programs," added EFF Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl, "Between the privacy invasions and computer security issues inherent in these technologies, companies should consider whether the damage done to consumer trust and their own public image is worth its scant protection."
About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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